On November 7, 2010, five Dallas police officers fired their weapons at 32-year-old Tony Menchaca -- who, police would soon discover, was armed with nothing more than a cigarette pack made to look like a handgun. Exactly two years later, his mother and father, Maria and Juan Menchaca, sued the officers responsible in Dallas federal court. Among their claims: the use of excessive force. The Dallas Police Department and the city of Dallas are not named as defendants.

The lawsuit recaps the incident that led to Tony's death: At around 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning, he went to Cesar's Tacos at 2919 W. Davis Street in Oak Cliff and told the waitress he had a gun. He asked her to call the police, which she did. Officers arrived, and for an hour they stood in the middle of W. Davis engaged in a standoff with a man who kept insisting he had a gun. Says the suit, he also "related to the officers the personal problems that he had regarding his arrest for assault on a public servant and his sister being shot."

The lawsuit, filed today by a different attorney, says Menchaca was struck 16 times, from his chest all the way down to his left foot, "and it is yet unclear how many more times he was shot [at] and missed." And, maintains the suit, "Despite the overwhelming amount of gunshots that struck Mr. Menchaca, Defendants proceeded to handcuff him, instead of providing life-preserving (saving) assistance."

The parents are asking for compensatory, actual and exemplary damages.